Topic Tuesday//Designing your online world//Tues. 16 Jan. 7pm - 9pm AEDT

@Lonely_Together yep I've been stung by that one too! However thankfully no one would know from the photo that I was a person with lived experience vs being involved in the particular organisation in another way. But again, it had never crossed my mind that that photo would be put up on FB without my consent.

@Former-Member I know, right? It's usually a sign for me that I need to centre myself a bit, that I've put too much of me out into social media land. Having said that, I miss my social media buddies too!

I only realy get this with the forums @Former-Member, and that is more because all my friends here are a bit like a family who have helped me through some pretty dark times, it is more a desire to be here to support others as I have been supported.

Even then it is sometimes easy to hide from the forums when I am feeling unsettled and unsociable.

I'm currently struggling with wanting to keep Facebook just for close family and friends (it's great for keeping up with people I don't see in person very often, so that if we do catch up I know a bit of what they've been up to & it's easier to make conversation) and getting tempted to use it more for mental health advocacy stuff that I do. But that's a very different group of people, and raises a whole lot of different issues. So common sense would suggest I limit who I connect with - but then I worry about missing out on hearing about what's happening....

Such a fantastic way of being online, @Former-Member. I was just saying to @Former-Member that I get a bit to 'into' the social media world and need to pull back into real life -- FOMO is a sign I need to do that.

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@Former-Member wrote:

@Phoenix_Rising That's a really good discipline. I have had to ban my phone from the bedroom to stop me sneakily checking updates after I'm supposed to be logged off

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@Former-Member {giggle}. I close the laptop at 9:30pm and go to bed...and then I jump back into Forum Land on my phone. However, I only then "like" posts rather than engaging with people and I only do it for 5-10 minutes. Plus I turn the screen down as low as it will go so that really, it's pretty much just like reading a book...isn't it?

Actually that question of who you connect with is really close to the next talking point -- thanks for the prompt, @Lonely_Together!

Controlling people’s access to you

Literally billions of people can see an unlocked social media account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the other big social networks. My Twitter account is public, but I’ve made it private at times when I need to feel more secure.

I also unfollow, unfriend and block whomever I please. They might not like it, but when my mental health is online, I’m #1. How do you manage who can see what you put online?

@Phoenix_Rising Oh totally justifiable, 100% I've also 'got up to get a glass of water' and come back night-blind from staring at Twitter for 20 minutes. Totally justifiable.

@Former-Member Outside of Forum Land, my only other social media is FB. I have everything totally locked down with the highest privacy settings. I find it hard to understand just how much information some people make public on FB.